Focus
by SaltwaterJanuary
Summary: Stop for a moment. Partly about battle, and partly about autumn.


_Focus_

His panting filled the area of forest that they fought in, yet she wasn't letting up. Her flame attacks came in consistently, and he ducked and batted away each time. His defense was becoming sluggish, and his movements were slowed, but he wouldn't give into his fatigue. Mostly because he would be too ashamed to ask for a break.

"When are you going to fight back, Sonic?" her voice, still even and steady, taunted him.

"In…a…moment…" he breathed.

She was amused by his fatigue. By every move he made she spotted error, and she knew the way he should fix them, but she saved these suggestions and let him struggle. Perhaps he would find out on his own.

"Then let the moment come," she replied.

He burst into spinning, lurching closer to her before she could attack again. Speed and impulse was his strong point, yet it blinded him. She stole away from him, moving just as quickly now, and slowed to focus her attack. He was unexpecting this time, and got burnt right away.

With a groan, he unrolled from his ball and looked at his opponent. He found, to his surprise, that she was sitting on a fallen log now, resting.

"I think that is enough for now," her voice hinted at laughter.

He sighed and took a seat beside her, his panting slowly residing.

"Alright, so I didn't do so well. You seem to have improved from last time. What am I doing wrong?"

"You do well in speed, but with that you lose other advantages. You lack focus." She watched his reaction to this, knowing he would have difficulty with it.

He shrugged it off. "So to get some focus, I need to slow down the attack, and speed up the defense, is that it?"

"Yes, but it's more than just that. You need to concentrate on what you're doing, and on what your foe is doing."

A breeze came through the trees, and he lifted his arms to catch it- a brief distraction from his lecture. "I see."

"I don't know why you're acting like you don't want to improve. You did ask me to help you." She was mildly irritated with the way he was airing out his pits, but she hid this well.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not acting like I don't want your help, am I?" he put his arms down and looked at his instructor, the slightest of smirks on his face.

"I know that you shrug off advice when you don't like it…so I'd say you _are_ acting like you don't want my suggestions."

"Well maybe I _like_ my way of fighting. I do want to improve, I just…don't want to lose my speed."

"You don't have to give it all up, only some of it. That is, if you want to have that advantage."

Sonic stretched his arms and legs, groaning out an," Okayyy."

Blaze shook her head at him, briefly staring up at a nearby tree branch. "Oh."

"What is it?" he sat back up properly and followed her gaze.

In the early autumn breeze, she spotted a red leaf flickering noiselessly on a branch, not far off from where they sat.

"Do you see that leaf?"

"Yeah."

"Stand up and aim your fingers at it as quickly as you can," Blaze instructed.

Sonic did so, his fingers ending up pointing a few inches off from that place. "What's your point?"

"You'll see. Sit down and do it again, this time do the pointing slowly," her tail flitted about calmly as she explained.

He did so, and this time he pointed much more accurately. She stood up and guided his hands slowly to another point on the tree, a yellow leaf.

"You can get up quickly and still aim with focus. It's not that hard," his teacher added.

"Ohh, I see. Aren't you clever?" he laughed.

She released his hands and nodded. "I am."

He smiled at her playfully and pointed at an oak, a ways into the distance. "Well, let's see if your tactics can get you to the tree over there then."

"A race?" she raised her eyes.

"Yep."

"You're on."

The two of them took off into the distance, stirring the leaves in their wake, and rustling those still remaining in the trees.

Sonic was there first, tapping the bark lightly with his hand, before Blaze reached it moments later.

"As you see, I don't sacrifice much of my speed just to focus," Blaze retorted.

"I suppose you're right," he stretched it off like it was nothing.

She sighed. "You'll never learn, will you?"

He laughed in response. "I probably won't."

And she knew that he was probably right.


End file.
